The Devil in Her Way: A Novel (Maureen Coughlin Series) - Hardcover

Loehfelm, Bill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374298858 ISBN 13: 9780374298852

Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books, 2013

Synopsis

When Maureen Coughlin first appeared in The Devil She Knows (2011), the New Orleans Times-Picayune called her "unforgettable" and "the character of the year." Booklist named The Devil She Knows one of 2011's ten best thrillers and declared Maureen "as compelling a character as this reviewer expects to see this year."

Now she's back in Bill Loehfelm's new thriller, The Devil in Her Way, and her life has changed in more ways than one: She's starting over in New Orleans as a newly minted member of the police force.

Kicking off her final week of field training, Maureen takes a punch from a panicked suspect bursting out of an apartment. Her training officer laughs it off, and the incident even yields a small victory: the cops recover a stash of pot and guns. But out on the street, on the fringes of the action, Maureen sees something sinister transpire between two neighborhood boys that leaves her shaken, and she knows there's more to the story than she's seen. As we follow Maureen's dangerous hunt for answers, Loehfelm leads us around New Orleans's most hidden corners and into its darkest outposts.

Bill Loehfelm is the real deal―a lauded thriller writer in the modern tradition of Dennis Lehane, Richard Price, and Michael Connelly. He knows the voices of his city. Like Lehane's Boston, Price's New York City, or Connelly's Los Angeles, Loehfelm's New Orleans leaps off the page, as vibrant, flawed, and unruly as his reborn, fire-hearted protagonist. In The Devil in Her Way, Loehfelm's talents flourish, and the result is a ruthless and propulsive thriller.

About this title

About the Author

Bill Loehfelm is the author of The Devil She Knows, Bloodroot, and Fresh Kills. He lives in New Orleans with his wife, the writer AC Lambeth. He plays drums in the Ibervillains, a rock and soul cover band.

From the Back Cover

''The Devil in Her Way is not only Bill Loehfelm's best book yet - it may just be the best mystery novel to come out of post-Katrina New Orleans since James Lee Burke's The Tin Roof Blowdown. I can offer no higher praise than to say that I finished it and wanted to read more. A gem.'' --John Connolly, New York Times bestselling author

''The Devil in Her Way has it all: rapid-fire pacing, dialogue that crackles, an artful depiction of the streets of New Orleans, and - in Maureen Coughlin - an utterly authentic, memorable protagonist. Bill Loehfelm is a terrific writer.'' --Alafair Burke, author of Never Tell and If You Were Here

''Bill Loehfelm shows us a deep, gritty New Orleans, far from the tourists. Seen through the eyes of a rookie cop, The Devil in Her Way is a story told in arrestingly beautiful prose, full of murder, mayhem, and sno-balls. I love this book and can't wait for the next.'' --Sara Gran, author of Come Closer and the Claire DeWitt mystery series

''Bill Loehfelm's razor-sharp The Devil in Her Way is everything you want a crime novel to be: morally twisty, richly textured, and filled with soul. And perhaps its greatest gift is the battered-but-not-broken Maureen Coughlin, a hero with whom we will go anywhere.'' --Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me

Reviews

*Starred Review* In The Devil She Knows (2011), Loehfelm introduced an indelible character, 29-year-old Staten Island cocktail waitress Maureen Coughlin. Smart, tough, and desperate to escape an empty life, Coughlin realized that “somewhere else she could be someone else.” So she moved to New Orleans and joined the NOPD. She was valedictorian of her police-academy class, but street patrol with Training Officer “Preacher” Boyd is her real education; she is sucker-punched in the book’s first sentence, when she responds to a domestic disturbance. Preacher, a cranky, weary master of the politics and culture of both the NOPD and the street, struggles to dampen her impulsiveness and make her a match for what she will encounter. Loehfelm’s plot spins out of that domestic situation and centers on Marques, a 12-year-old who witnessed the sucker punch and who Coughlin intuits is headed for deep trouble. Previously, Loehfelm made New York’s least-known borough, Staten Island, a genuinely compelling character. Incrementally, he does even more with New Orleans—a shambolic city in the best of times—still devastated by Hurrican Katrina. His portrait of the city and its residents is tragic, elegaic, hopeful, and even loving. Crime aficionados will love The Devil in Her Way, and librarians should consider recommending it to any reader who seeks wonderfully drawn, complicated, deeply human characters and a brilliant sense of place. --Thomas Gaughan

Edition details

• Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374298858
• ISBN 13: 9780374298852
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288